Greg Gutfeld: Ocasio-Cortez ‘Had to Cloak Her Weak Ideas in the Armor of a Smear’

Following her shocking victory over 10-term Congressman Joe Crowley in the June Democratic primary, 28-year-old Alexandra Ocasio-Cortes came out of nowhere to become the party’s rising star.

Since that time, she has appeared in a flurry of media interviews, which have revealed her lack of knowledge on the issues.

Ocasio-Cortez makes bold statements. When an interviewer tries to dig a little deeper, maybe asks how she plans to pay for free college and medical care for example, or why she refers to Israelis as “occupiers of Palestine,” she defaults to a very predictable sequence of behavior to mask her ignorance. First, she tries to redirect by either changing the subject or answering a different question. If pressed, with a very earnest look on her face, she’ll offer a meandering, nonsensical answer similar to what you might expect from a college student who had spent the previous evening at the bar instead of the library. Finally, she laughs and, holding up both hands, explains that she’s not an expert on the topic being discussed. This is followed by a blinding smile and since she will only talk to friendly journalists, that’s usually the end of that.

Too bad for her that conservative websites continue to play clips of her most ridiculous answers over and over again.

Recently, Ocasio-Cortez made the following statement: “Republicans are afraid to debate or talk to [me] or discuss the issues.”

Ben Shapiro certainly wasn’t afraid to discuss the issues with her. In fact, he was “eager” to do so. When he challenged Ocasio-Cortez to a debate “about all the topics under the sun,” offering a $10,000 donation to either the charity of her choice or to her campaign, she responded with the following tweet:

Just like catcalling, I don’t owe a response to unsolicited requests from men with bad intentions.

"Hey, girl — want to have a public one-hour discussion on the intricacies of trade policy, deficit spending, and the value of the profit motive? I'll even donate a bunch of money to charity or your campaign to make it happen." — Construction worker in Queens, apparently

A debate with Ben Shapiro would have resulted in the world finding out that, beyond the ability to rattle off socialist talking points, Ocasio-Cortez has no real knowledge of the issues. And no one was more aware of this than she herself. It would have been a real life version of Toto pulling back the curtain and revealing the all powerful Wizard of Oz as simply an old man playing with theatrical effects. “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”

Interestingly, we learned that Ocasio-Cortez presented a debate invitation to her primary opponent, Joe Crowley, similar to Shapiro’s invitation. When Crowley declined her invitation, she went to his office to create a photo op to use in her campaign. It was a smart strategy. It highlighted her own boldness and either her opponent’s fear or, more likely, his belief that she had no chance to win and a debate would be an unnecessary waste of his time.

I guess he should have agreed to the debate!

My opponent seems to be avoiding a debate, and isn’t acknowledging me. It’s just the 2 of us.

So weekend I stopped by his office, said hello, & asked for a debate in person.

Can you imagine the ensuing firestorm if Ben Shapiro showed up at her office to request a debate?

Why was it okay for Ocasio-Cortez to show up at her opponent’s office to shame him into a debate when she referred to Ben Shapiro’s debate request as “catcalling?”

Obviously, she knew she would be in well over her head in a debate with Shapiro due to both her socialist proposals and her lack of the knowledge necessary to back up those positions.

That’s understandable. I wouldn’t want to debate Ben Shapiro either, but surely she could have responded more gracefully. It was needless for her to claim victim status. By doing so, she just drew unnecessary negative media attention to herself. Catcalling? How in the world can Shapiro’s debate invitation be construed as catcalling?

This young woman is not quite ready for prime time.

The Truth Must be Told

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Elizabeth Vaughn is a conservative political blogger and mom of three residing in southern Connecticut. Following a career in the financial services industry, she has been a regular contributor to conservative websites. Contact her at eliza.vaughn13@gmail.com.

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